It’s Olympic Hockey time. The NHL, once again, takes a break to allow it’s players to participate in the Winter Olympics and NHL fans are in a fluff!
“I hate the Olympics, it haults the NHL season”
“What if these guys get injured?”
Settle down, the Olympics are happening, the NHL guys are participating, so sit down and watch hockey the way it’s supposed to be played in a place where skill is promoted high above hired goonery.
This years men’s tournament kicks off on February 15th with 12 countries participating in a round robin tournament, which is a slight change from the 2002 Olympics. The 12 countries (teams) are split into two groups and will play each team in their group once, accumulating points for every win and tie but gaining no points for a loss.
Group A
Canada
Czech Republic
Finland
Germany
Italy
Switzerland
Group B
Kazakhstan
Russia
Latvia
Slovakia
Sweden
United States
After the round robin, each group’s top four teams move on to an eight-team single elimination tournament based on how they finished in their round robin groups.
A1
Vs
B4
B2
Vs
A3
B1
Vs
A4
A2
Vs
B3
The four teams who reach the Semi’s will end up playing for a medal. The two winning teams will play for the Gold (the losing team here winning the Silver) and the two losing teams will play for the Bronze (the losing team earning 4th place).
Now, I encourage you take another look at the countries that are participating in the tournament this year and have a good chuckle when you come across Italy, Latvia and Kazakhstan because those countries have absolutely no chance of making any sort of impact on this tournament. You might also want to add Germany, who despite their long history of being involved in this event, have no shot at improving on their Bronze medal winning team in 1932 and Switzerland is well, a waste of time as well.
So, unless you want to see Canada or Finland win really big, watch them against one of these teams or do yourself a favor and hope that Sasha Cohen is on TV elsewhere….which is a damn guarantee in itself.
Here are your countries for the 2006 Olympics Hockey Tournament:
CZECH REPUBLIC
Goaltending: Domink Hasek has disproven all doubts about his level of play this year while playing for Ottawa, he’s in the top five in basically every goatending category by far and it should be no different in the Olympics. The man single handedly won the gold medal for the Czech’s in 98 but things don’t have to be that drastic this year with Tomas Vokoun behind Hasek. Solid goaltending has been a Czech staple in international competition.
Defense: This isn’t the most defensively minded bunch with Marek Zidlicky, Filip Kuba, Pavel Kubina and two Kaberles but that only translates into fast skating defenseman which is virtually a must with a larger rink. This may be the Czech’s downfall if the forwards have a tough time remembering to back check and do their part to help out the D when they’re activated in the offensive zone.
Offense: Who do the Czech’s have up front? Only three guys who play on the same team and have played on the same line all season long: Jagr, Straka and Rucinsky. Ales Hemsky may shine in this tournament and he might have to with guys like Milan Hejduk and Robert Lang struggling and the recent injury to Petr Prucha (another fellow NYR member along with Jagr , Straka and Rucinsky). Jagr is their game breaker, so we’ll see how well he does.
Prediction: Bronze Medal
FINLAND
Goaltending: This is where Finland looked pretty good and now it may be the reason why this team fails to win a medal again. Miika Kiprusoff was supposed to be their yop guy but has since decided not to go to the Olympics. Finland will go with Antero Niitymaki and Fredrik Norrena. Yeah, I know.
Defense: Finland has also always had a good defensive core with veteran Teppo Numminen leading the way and with guys like Joni Pitkanen and Sami Salo, the Fins can look toward being physical with their oppositions best lines and also be able to move the puck around very smoothly. This group will have to be a bit more defensive to be able to fully make an impact, however.
Offense: The Finnish Flash++ is what team Finland is sporting and that’s about it. Teemu Selanne will once again lead the pack as Finland’s main offensive weapon and with much more reason as he’s having a great season thus far with the Mighty Ducks. Saku and Mikko Koivu gives Finland a threatning third or fourth line and Niko Kapanen and Olli Jokinen will compliment any center they play with. This team skates well but there aren’t enough guys who can continously put the puck in the net.
Prediction: No medal
RUSSIA
Goaltending: No Nikolai Khabibulin and that’s more of a good thing. Evgeni Nabokov is a very capabale netminder despite struggling at times in San Jose and I’m sure Kazahkstan would rather have him on their team. Ilya Bryzgalov might have gotten the nod if only because he’s in the NHL. Unfortunately for Russia, Maxim Sokolov has been injured and will miss the games. If this department holds up, Russia will do some things.
Defense: And if the goaltending doesn’t hold up, you have a rather sturdy defense that consists of several different styles. Darius Kasparitis has changed his style of play dramatially over the least couple of NHL seasons but he’s still capabale of intimidating any forward he may be checking. Gonchar needs to completely overhaul his game and hopefully for Pittsburgh he can find his old ways during this tournament….hopefully for Russia as well.
Offense: This is what carries the Russian team. Datsyuk, Frolov, Kovalchuk, Ovechkin, Sushinsky and throw ins like Yashin and Zhamnov will be one of the best scoring teams involved in this years Olympics. Ovechkin or Kovalchuk will lead the tournament in scoring.
Prediction: Silver Medal
SLOVAKIA
Goaltending: This is ugly. The goaltending has always been ugly for Slovakia and it’s no different now. Peter Budaj is the best of the bunch and quite frankly that’s not enough. Unless the defense can hold up, which it might, then goaltending will be the reason why Slovakia won’t be playing for very long.
Defense: This is where Slovakia shines. Zdeno Chara will take charge in the defensive stay at home style with the talent to go on the offense and Lubomir Visnosvky will quarterback a powerplay that sports a slew of talented forwards. They will have to do as much as possible to get the puck to their forwards and give them enough time to be creative on the offense. Keeping the puck out of their own zone as much as possible is a must.
Offense: Not having Ziggy Palffy and Ladislav Nagy is a huge blow to this team but with guys like Demitra, Marian Hossa and the recent re-emergence of Marian Gaborik, the Slovaks might end up being in pretty good shape. My only problem with this set of forwards: Jozef Stumpel. WHY is he on this team? WHY is he still in the NHL?
Prediction: No medal
UNITED STATES
Goaltending: Where oh where is Mike Richter? Rick DiPietro hasn’t done much of anything thus far in his career and Esche and Grahame are off and on so much that it’s tough to figure out which version you’ll be getting each night. However, they are the best of the bunch on the American born side and this is the least of Team USA’s problems.
Defense: They just decided to drop Aaron Miller due to injury but a strong defense has always been there for the Americans. Chris Chelios and Mathieu Schneider are international veterans and to add a different dimension to the group, Derian Hatcher was selected this time around. That adds a good amount of grit to go along with Liles, Leopold’s and Raflaski’s offensive skills.
Offense: This is the big question mark for the U.S. Modano was a no brainer, as he is the best American player. Not selecting Roenick was a good move and having Hull retire was as well. Guerin and Weight are in due to past reputation and nothing more and then you have guys like Jason Blake and Mark Parrish who only serve to make you wish that Adam Deadmarsh was still playing. It’s going to be up to Knuble, Cole and maybe Chris Drury will wake up, to lead the offense here.
Prediction: No medal
SWEDEN
Goaltending: The Swedes are sporting a hot group of golatenders. Henrik Lundqvist is going to lead NYR into the playoffs and he might lead Team Sweden to a medal. Mikael Tellqvist is a decent back up and Stefan Liv can more than handle his own….though he’ll most likely not see much playing time at all.
Defense: However, their defense might be a different story. Nicklas Lidstrom will always play well but this week, Mattias Norstrom has been out of the lineup and is listed as day to day. I’m sure he’ll be kept a close eye on while we get closer to next week and the beginning of the games.
Offense: Ouch. No Naslund, half of Forsberg, a pair of twins, a shell of what used to be Mats Sundin and Daniel Alfredsson. Zetterberg will do well and Modin might end up doing more than his share of work but this is a team that needs someone like Mats Sundin to light a fire under himself or hope that Sami Pahlsson remembers what to do when the puck is on his stick.
Prediction: No medal
CANADA
Goaltending: The best 3 goaltenders in the tournament and Canada could win the gold just based on this category alone. Brodeur, Luongo and Turco. ‘Nuff said.
Defense: Okay, no Scott Neidermayer….that’s pretty bad. However, Blake and Foote are still capable of shutting a big line down and Pronger and Redden are a threat on both sides of the ice. And McCabe and Bouwmeester are both decent replacements for Niedermayer and Jovanovski.
Offense: They’ve got about a handful of gamebreakers in this group. Guys that could take over a game and win it for you: Sakic (2002 MVP), Nash, Heatley, Iginla, Gagne. If that wasn’t enough, they still have Thornton, St. Louis and Lecavalier. This is a great group of guys but Joe Sakic is still the heart and soul here…if he has a great tournament, Canada will win the gold. Well, they’ll win the gold even if he isn’t all that great anyhow.
Prediction: Gold medal
So there are the 7 countries that stand a chance of coming out with some hardware this year. The NHL will take a 17 day break and the round robin tourney begins on Wednesday, February 15th with the Gold Medal Game being held on February 26th.
Here’s a schedule of the games, of course, the Olympics will be broadcast on NBC and its sister networks.
Wednesday, February 15 – Men
Kazakhstan vs. Sweden – 5:30am et
Canada vs. Italy – 7am et
Switzerland vs. Finland – 9:30am et
Germany vs. Czech Republic – 11am et
Russia vs. Slovakia – 2pm et
Latvia vs. United States – 3pm et
Thursday, February 16 – Men
Finland vs. Italy – 6am et
Switzerland vs. Czech Republic – 7am et
Sweden vs. Russia – 10am et
Slovakia vs. Latvia – 11am et
Canada vs. Germany – 2pm et
United States vs. Kazakhstan – 3pm et
Saturday, February 18 – Men
Kazakhstan vs. Russia – 5:30am et
Italy vs. Germany – 7am et
Canada vs. Switzerland – 9:30am et
Sweden vs. Latvia – 11am et
Slovakia vs. United States – 2pm et
Czech Republic vs. Finland – 3pm et
Sunday, February 19 – Men
Germany vs. Switzerland – 6am et
Russia vs. Latvia – 7am et
Slovakia vs. Kazakhstan – 10am et
United States vs. Sweden – 11am et
Czech Republic vs. Italy – 2pm et
Finland vs. Canada – 3pm et
Tuesday, February 21 – Men
Latvia vs. Kazakhstan – 5:30am et
Switzerland vs. Italy – 6:30am et
Finland vs. Germany – 9:30am et
Canada vs. Czech Republic – 10:30am et
Sweden vs. Slovakia – 2pm et
United States vs. Russia – 2:30pm et
Wednesday, February 22 – Men
Quarterfinal (A1-B4) – 10:30am et
Quarterfinal (A2-B3) – 11:30am et
Quarterfinal (B1-A4) – 2:30pm et
Quarterfinal (B2-A3) – 3:30pm et
Friday, February 24 – Men
Semifinal (winner A1-B4 vs. winner B2-A3) – 10:30am et
Semifinal (winner B1-A4 vs. winner A2-B3) – 3pm et
Saturday, February 25 – Men
Bronze Medal Game – 2:30pm et
Sunday, February 26 – Men
Gold Medal Game – 8am et
Enjoy the Olympics and I’ll see you here when the NHL season resumes on Tuesday, February 28th.
